What do you remember about your first Linux install?

wpeckham · 01-26-2021, 07:43 PM

I had installed a LOT of Unix (HP-UX and AIX, SYS-V, Coherent) but the first Linuix was RedHat 4.2 (Before RHEL) I remember being certain I had done something wrong. It was far to easy and quick, and I was sure at first that I must have missed something.

TorC · 01-26-2021, 08:23 PM

The excitement of trying something "not windows,"

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...1&d=1611713980

jsbjsb001 · 01-26-2021, 09:15 PM

The fact I could have a system that actually had real security... unlike M$ Windows. Not to mention a system I have control over.

It was like a new world had opened up to me, along with a breath of fresh air...

baumei · 01-26-2021, 10:33 PM

It was Slackware, back in the mid-1990s. It appears I started with version 3.0, on a stack of floppies --- I still have the emergency boot floppy. I remember learning vi in order to edit the configuration files. For a long time I used just the command line, because I could not get the dot-clock lines figured out for whatever video card and monitor I was using at the time. Eventually, I did get X to run, and was delighted!

af67pmr740 · 07-13-2021, 04:00 PM

I have a lot of fun showing my MAC user friends my MID 2012 Macbook Pro running KDE NEON!

After they play with it a little they usually ask me "What did you do to get it to work like this?"

Then (of course) I go into a "you know, this is NOT the MAC OS"......then I usually get a "Deer-In-the-headlights" look!

Cheers,

Rick

dbelina · 07-13-2021, 08:40 PM

I set it up with Slackware using the floppies and then proceeded to set up my first web site. I was doing penetration testing on it when the Air Force discovered I was tryin to hack the Air IP address and they were upset that I was doing doing the hacking from an Army IP address (both on the same box). Try doing that from Windows 3.5!

dugan · 07-13-2021, 11:07 PM

Slackware on a 486 with two floppies download over dial-up. Couldn't do anything with it, but it ran and it had a command-line.

WFV · 07-17-2021, 10:57 AM

It was faster than Windows install; freedom; learning something new - well thought i was - though Linux was and yet is new to me, i'm a slow learner (easier softer way of saying i'm lazy)

yba · 07-19-2021, 06:00 AM

My first installation of Linux was Redhat 7.0, because I want to run IRAF made by the KPNO.
IRAF is a very good software package, many many astronomers in the world use it.

yba

maw_walker · 07-19-2021, 10:17 AM

My first install was Linux Mandrake that I purchased in a box from a retailer. I had hated Windows since the moment I first saw it so was looking for an alternative. That was 1998 or 1999. The install was easy and I ended up using Gnome 1.x because KDE looked too much like Windows for me. At least I think I used Gnome 1, I may be confusing my experience with Red Hat but I can't remember.

lleb · 07-20-2021, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremy

The LQ Poll series continues: What do you remember about your first Linux install?

--jeremy

wow this goes back to the time that RedHat was splitting into RHEL & Fedora Core.

#1 thing I remember was how much easier it was to install and update than win95/98/2k the main supported desktop OS's from Microsoft at the time.

jefro · 07-21-2021, 03:14 PM

I remember my brother moved to San Francisco and told me about how to get BSD. Back then you had to dial up to a local bulletin board. Unfortunately no one had the source code. I had to dial long distance every night to San Fran to get the code. About a week later I compiled it on an IBM 386. After maybe two weeks I had a prompt. Think it cost me $100 in long distance charges. Then I heard about linux and bought a book MKStoolkit that had a dos implementation of linux to practice on. Next was ZipSlack then Mandrake.

georgnillson · 08-02-2021, 06:42 AM

honestly, it was a long time ago, it's hard to remember, but I remember exactly what was difficult and at the same time interesting and mysterious, I remember emotions when I realized that I can do what I want in this OS, it cannot be compared with anything

miquelets46 · 08-02-2021, 11:03 AM

RedHat 5.6. Didn't understand that internal routers needed special drivers. Had to wait a couple of years!!

kevinbenko · 08-02-2021, 11:08 AM

It was 2005. I had heard of Ubuntu, but I did my research on several distributions.
After a few weeks (I was in Grad School at the time) it was a tossup between Debian and Slackware.
I chose Debian.

Due to lack of sleep, I didn't worry too much.

But, in the end IT WORKED!!!!!

Although I am still on Debian (testing/unstable), I have been looking into it ever since the travesty called systemd came to Debian.